Page 56 of Rebel for Claws
He's spiraling again. That beautiful, brilliant mind of his is creating problems that don't exist yet.
"I don't know what we're supposed to do about completing our mate bond," Alaric said finally. "After what happened in that hall, after seeing their faces when you revealed the prophecy's hidden clause..."
Vivian turned to study his profile, noting the muscle ticking in his jaw and the way his eyes remained fixed on the road ahead with laser focus. "You think they're going to try to separate us."
"I think they're terrified," he replied grimly. "And terrified people make decisions based on fear, not logic. They could decide that keeping us apart is the safest option for everyone."
There's that martyrdom complex again. Always ready to sacrifice his own happiness for the greater good.
"If that were true," Vivian said, her voice carrying quiet conviction, "they wouldn't have allowed us to leave together just now. Think about it, Alaric. We just revealed that our mating could potentially destroy every wolf shifter in the territory, and yet not a single leader suggested we be separated immediately."
Alaric's hands flexed on the steering wheel, but he remained stubbornly silent.
"They're showing trust in us," she continued, reaching across the console to place her hand on his forearm. Even through his coat, she could feel the coiled tension in his muscles. "The least you could do is show the same trust in them instead of brooding like the world has already ended."
His enhanced senses are probably picking up every emotional nuance in the car right now. He knows I'm frustrated with his pessimism.
The rest of the drive passed in weighted silence, Alaric's brooding presence filling the SUV like a storm cloud. When they finally pulled up to his estate, the familiar sight of the stone mansion against the snow-covered landscape should have felt like a sanctuary. Instead, it felt like a gilded cage where they could hide from the impossible decisions looming over them.
Inside the warmth of his home, Alaric moved through the motions of normalcy with mechanical precision—hanging their coats, checking messages, and instructing the staff about dinner. But Vivian could see the war raging behind his eyes, the way he avoided looking directly at her, and the careful distance he maintained between their bodies.
He's treating me like I'm made of glass again. Or like I'm a bomb that might detonate if he gets too close.
Dinner was an exercise in forced civility, both of them making polite conversation about anything except the elephant in the room. Vivian watched Alaric methodically work throughhis meal, noting how he cut his steak with surgical precision and chewed each bite exactly twenty times before swallowing.
"You're still brooding," she observed, setting down her wine glass with deliberate care.
Alaric's fork paused halfway to his mouth. "I'm processing."
"You're spiraling into worst-case scenarios and creating problems that may never materialize," she corrected, her eyes flashing with frustration. "There's a difference."
God, he's infuriating when he gets like this. All that Alpha dominance and strategic brilliance, and he's paralyzed by hypothetical consequences.
"I'm torn between duty and desire," Alaric admitted, finally meeting her gaze. "Between protecting our shifter society from potential fallout and claiming the woman I love, consequences be damned. It's not exactly a comfortable position."
The raw honesty in his confession made Vivian's heart clench, but before she could respond, the sharp ring of his cell phone shattered the moment. Alaric glanced at the display and immediately answered.
"Kieran."
Even from across the table, Vivian could hear the urgency in Kieran's voice through the phone, though she couldn't make out specific words. She watched Alaric's face transform, his features sharpening into lethal focus.
"How long do we have?" Alaric asked, his voice dropping to that dangerous Alpha tone.
More urgent conversation from Kieran's end.
"Understood. We'll be ready."
Alaric ended the call and turned to face her, his eyes now blazing with gold fire. The brooding, uncertain man from moments before had vanished, replaced by the commanding Alpha who had survived thirty years of political manipulation and five months of torture.
There he is. The man I fell in love with.
"The human operatives are mobilizing faster than predicted," he said, rising from his chair with predatory grace. "The war isn't coming—it's here. Now."
Vivian felt her own battle instincts surge to life, adrenaline flooding her system as she stood to face him. "How much time?—"
"None," Alaric interrupted, crossing the space between them in two powerful strides. His hands framed her face with gentle reverence that contrasted sharply with the lethal energy radiating from his body. "We have to complete the mate bond now, Vivian. Not after the war, not when it's politically convenient, not when we've eliminated every possible risk."
Finally. No more hesitation. No more fear-based decisions.
